


help me live

by Afanwithglasses



Category: Haikyuu!!, Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Bonding, Developing Relationship, M/M, alternative universe, canibalism/nearly, lots of blood sucking, protective Akiteru, slightly angsty, smut in later chapters, some of the things still remain the same as in canon, strong brother relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-08
Updated: 2016-03-06
Packaged: 2018-04-03 12:09:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4100455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Afanwithglasses/pseuds/Afanwithglasses
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone makes mistakes, and Tsukishima Kei is no exception. A bad day, a hungry and smug Ghoul, and a tired mind is all it takes when life is looking for things to screw over.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. bad day

It was raining heavily, and it was late… too late. He couldn’t bring himself to sleep, so he was desperately trying to get the nearly tipping pile of schoolwork finished. From outside the house it was clearly visible that Kei’s bedroom was the only lit up room in the street at that hour. The only other light that kept his room slightly illuminated besides his desk lamp was the weak streetlight that kept flickering in the rain.  It was nearly impossible to stay focused. His eyes kept wandering to stare at nothing, and his mind kept spacing out. The sound of rain held him occupied, and he listened to the falling water for nearly twenty minutes before he snapped out of it. It was past four AM, and Kei hadn’t been able to get even a pencil stroke further with his work.

He realized he had been staring at nothing for the past twenty minutes when he suddenly heard rapid foot steps outside on the street. They sounded awfully loud due to the water splashing when the shoes hit the ground, and distracted him for a moment. They closed in, and for a second he thought they might belong to some weirdo who was out running before work, but his guess turned less realistic as the footsteps seemed to have stopped in front of their front door.  
He looked at nothing as he waited, and nearly jumped out of his chair when he heard the doorbell go off. 

It wasn’t unusual for things like this to happen, but the situation had never been presented to Kei in person. As if enchanted, he hurriedly went downstairs to the front door without thinking, where a stranger was desperately knocking on the door. Had it been another day he would have woken up Akiteru before even nearing the door, but today his mind wasn’t working as it usually would. He opened the door, and an image he had been unconsciously preparing for presented itself right in front of him.

The stranger looked absolutely horrified. He was clutching his bloody, drenched jacket. Black, unruly hair was sticking to his face and overlapping one of his eyes. The rain nearly overpowered his words, but Kei opened the door more to let him in... He already knew what had happened.

“A G-ghoul- a-attack-k me” The man stuttered.

“Get inside, quickly-”

He nearly dragged the man inside when he didn’t react as quickly as he wanted, and closed the door. Kei noted to himself that the guy was covering his right shoulder with his hand, and a serious amount of blood was streaming out from under said spot. Otherwise, he looked completely fine. The words _“snacking ghoul”_ crossed his mind, but he didn’t utter them. The man grasped on to the closest thing with his free hand, Kei’s shirt, and followed when he led him to the living room.

“How far away from here?” Kei asked, sternly. The blood ticked him off slightly, or rather the fear of his brother waking up did.

“A... couple of… kilometers-“The man exhaled. His eyes look like they had seen horrible things, but what hit Kei the most was the fact that this guy didn’t seem like he would be scared to death over such a simple ghoul attack at all. For a moment, he wondered what kind of ghoul could scare a man this much, but then the man in front of him nearly collapsed and he snapped out of it.

“I- I’m just out of breath- th-that’s all” The guy stuttered when Kei stepped forwards to catch him, although he was barely standing.

“I’ll go get a towel and some bandages,” he offered. What else could he offer a stranger in need?  
Nearly stumbling, he found his way to the bathroom and pilled the things into his own arms, before dashing into the living room again.

 

“T-thanks” the stranger managed, as kei gave him the towel.  
He dried his hair first, before he took of his jacket, pressing the towel down on the wound.

The now visible _“bed-hair”_ caught Kei’s eyes. Now that the situation was less rushed, a lot of things did. The sturdy build of his body, the matureness of his being, his broad shoulders…The man was even around the same height as him. He tried to make out as many details as he could in the dark room, and ended up studying him.  
Something else that caught his attention is the way the bed-hair guy kept turning to look at everything, as if he was expecting something to come dashing through the window at any moment.

“We... we have bulletproof windows” Kei informed, to sooth him. To be honest he didn’t know what to say to sooth a guy in this kind of situation, but he guessed a sort of confirmation of his safety was an ok thing to start with.  
Staring at him might not have been the most helpful thing to do though, but that was all Kei managed to do as the stranger slowly calmed down.

“Bullet proof huh? Are ghouls a big problem around here?” The stranger asked, sounding more curious than scared.

“Not really... just the snacking ones”

The guy tilted his head.

“Snacking?” he questioned.

Kei realized that this stranger probably wasn’t from this place, and tried to come up with the quickest way to explain.

“The ghouls around here usually just take a bite and then leave,” he explained.

The stranger looked completely lost, as if the thing Kei just said was in a language he couldn’t recognize. Although seconds later his expression changed as if he finally understood what Kei had meant.

“They just take a bite and leave? How… _human_ ” he sounded shocked, but also more indifferent at the end of the sentence.

Kei only shook his head, relieved that the stranger wasn’t out of breath and close to panicking anymore. He hates it when he has to comfort people, really… He can’t even comfort those he is close to either, at least not very well. As the stranger calms more down though, he feels less awkward about the situation.  He was about to ask the stranger what his name was, but then something caught his attention and he stopped.

Kei didn’t know why, but he had been unconsciously looking at the wound when he wasn’t looking at anything else. The white towel the stranger was using was covered in blood, but by the looks of it, the wound was slowly beginning to bleed less. Although, the wound hadn’t stopped bleeding slowly... it had stopped bleeding a bit too soon for Kei’s liking. He knew being suspicious was supposed to be his first priority, Akiteru always tells him that, but he had forgotten that due to being so sleepy.

As he realizes he might have slipped up majorly, Kei narrows his eyes and studies the man more. The stranger moves the towel a bit to wipe away a few water droplets that have rolled their way down his neck, and Kei tenses.

“Something wrong?” The stranger then asks, voice too calm and too smug for Kei’s liking. The atmosphere around him has changed completely, and he turns to look at kei with half-lidded eyes, and a smirk.

“…your wound seems to have… healed nicely” Kei manages to press out of himself. In fact, the wound was gone.

“I have nice genes,” The stranger purrs, still smirking. His eyes are now glowing a visible red in the dark room.

The thing that annoys Kei the most is the fact that this stranger has managed to fool him completely. Another thing that annoys him is the fact that the stranger looks so fucking smug about it.  
To be honest, Kei knew the day something like this happened would come eventually, but he had not predicted that he himself would be the one to let the Ghoul in through the door. He admitted it was a stupid thing to do, but he felt like an absolute moron and he didn’t like it at all.

He swallowed harshly, although he didn’t feel as scared as he normaly would, which was stupid. Somehow, he felt like today wasn’t going to be the day he died, and he stared at the stranger.

“Aww... you’re not even going to scream or anything?” The man, now standing up, asks him. He looks like he’s trying to scold someone, rather than scare him. Kei finds it humorous, but only for a few seconds. The man starts stepping closer, keeping his half-lidded eyes locked on his. After all his experience, Kei felt pretty much untouched when normal people tried to scold him or intimidate him these days; but that stare had him uneasy. It pissed him off.

Then the man stopped. He’s not much more than one step away from him, and Kei feels trapped in his gaze. A silence lays over the two, before the stranger suddenly sniffs the air.

“Your scent is irresistible,” he hums. His gaze moves from Kei’s eyes to his neck, and then he starts looking him up and down.

“Your way of telling it is disturbing” Kei retorts, mockingly.

The stranger’s eyes find their way up to Kei’s again, and for a brief second the stranger looks offended and shocked.

“Not much of a charmer though…” He huffs, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I’m not trying to charm you either,” Kei continues, just as calm as earlier.

“This kind of talk usually doesn’t end well for those on _your_ side…So don’t get too cocky now,”

“I literally couldn’t give fewer fucks about that right now, to be honest,” Kei informs. He takes the same pose as the one in front of him, and sees that he has managed to puzzle the stranger. His eyebrows arches up, and he looks mildly confused.

“Never had a human talk back at you?” Kei questions. He leans on the wall behind him.

Moping, the stranger tries to come up with a response snarkier than Kei’s, but he gives up and then realizes he is in the middle of a sass-off with a guy whom he was originally going to eat. 

“You listen here, brat-“He starts, stepping forwards and closing the gap between them. He firmly grabs hold of Kei’s shirt, although he doesn’t tug him closer. He leans in, and whispers as close to his ear as he can.

“If you think talking to me like this will help you, you are so wrong I feel sorry for you…”

His mouth is too close, and the way he is speaking is threatening. Kei can’t help but to try and lean away from him. He realizes Akiteru might not actually wake up before anything severe happens, and immediately regrets mocking the stranger.

“I’ll have you informed, that you are too delicious for me to leave you alone” He continues, tugging Kei closer and sniffing his neck.  
“I’d get looked down on if I let you go” He mutters, and then bites lightly at his neck.

Kei nearly yelps, and furrows his eyebrows. He feels paralyzed, and then the stranger dots his tongue out and slowly licks a line from the nape of his neck and up to his jaw-line. He shudders.

“Not so cocky now, huh? Don’t worry though… I might just be here for a quick _bite_ as you said…” the guy breathes, lips close to his ear, and voice as smug as ever.

“Fucking get off me!” Kei bites, finally pushing hard at the strangers shoulders. The man hadn’t expected Kei to push back at this point, and stumbles a bit backwards to then fall on his butt, baffled.

Kei watches the guy and tries to regain his composure, breathing heavily all of a sudden. He nearly cries out of relief when he hears the familiar sound of a door opening. He knows Akiteru is slow, but come on!  
The stranger must have heard him too, because he stops in the middle of standing up, and looks up in the direction of Akiteru’s room, sniffing the air once again.

Akiteru was most likely sleepy; at least the sound of his heavy footsteps down the stairs indicated that.

“Kei... What the hell are you doing up so late-”Akiteru is rubbing his eyes as he enters the dark room, but stops as he notices the stranger on the floor. His gaze goes from Kei to the stranger a couple of times, before his expression darkens.

“You could have tried to inform me there was a ghoul in the house,” He says.

“I’m afraid he could not, he was busy enjoying my tongue” The stranger speaks up, from his stance on the floor. Kei notes that the stranger looks intimidated, and feels less scared. Akiteru always helps him, and he feels safe with him around.

Akiteru’s facial expression changes from serious to disgusted, but quickly relapses.

“I want your filthy _everything_ out of this house immediately” Akiteru has an aura around him, and it is screaming _–piss off or I’ll kill you-_.

“What… are you going to snack on me if I don’t?” The black haired man stands up and notes to himself that the guy named “Akiteru” is shorter than him. He smirks.

“I’m afraid I’m going to stay here for a while longer, no matter what you say.” He adds, once again closing in on Kei.

Akiteru is about to move forwards, but stops as the stranger suddenly moves and grabs his little brother by the hair. A low gasp emits from Kei, but he tries to stay calm. If he freaked out and made a ruckus, his mom could wake up.

“Also… You don’t actually think you could beat me?” the strangers eyes are on Akiteru, but his attention is on the squirming, blond, tall bratty kid he’s got a handful of. He brings his free hand up to hold at Kei’s shirt, to keep him still. It works slightly, but the damn brat still won’t stop moving. The stranger wished he had caught the brat’s name, but he also figured it didn’t really matter.

“Don’t touch him,” Akiteru hissed.

“I already am,” The stranger teased. His gaze went down to the blond he has a perfect grasp on, and he was taken aback by himself when the word “cute” popped up in his head. He shook it off, but continued to look him over. At that second, something turned in him, and for some reason, he felt like letting the kid go… or something else.

Akiteru stepped closer, his kagune bursting out.

“If you think I’ll let you eat him, you are dead,” He hissed, louder this time.

Kei’s scent started to fill the strangers mind and thoughts, and his heartbeat was distracting him. Saying that he didn’t hear what Akiteru had said, and that he wasn’t surprised by the kagune would be a lie, but he was definitely not paying attention to it.  
It only took him two seconds to make his next decisions. To let himself be hungry, and to listen to Akiteru, sort of.

The stranger bit his own lip, hard, and drew blood. He felt a bigger amount of the metallic liquid fill his mouth. Feeling satisfied, he lifted the blond to his own level, and placed his lips on his.  
Akiteru was somewhat frozen, in a state of confusion and not knowing how to respond to something like this. His lips parted slightly as he stared at the stranger whom was kissing his little brother, and his kagune dropped.

Kei’s case was not any better. He couldn’t quite grasp what was happening. He could feel a pair of warm, slightly chapped lips on his own. He was surprised by the tingling sensation, and his surprised state was made clear when he let out a weak, muffled cry.  
The man’s tight grip on his hair faltered, and his grasp on his shirt tightened. These tiny, insignificant details cogged up in Kei’s mind, and then something slipped past his lips. He could taste something metallic, and his eyes widened.

The stranger pulled back, wiping his mouth on his sleeve.

“Swallow it all, sugar,” he panted.

If it had been a reflex or not, Kei didn’t know, but out of all the stupid things he could have done, swallowing was one of them. He brought a hand up to hold around his own throat, in disbelief.

“W-what did you do?!” Akiteru piped up, finally able to speak.

“I decided I’m not here for food…,” the black haired man breathed. A soft smirk was plastered on his face as he watched the blond in front of him try to grasp the situation. His gaze was piercing the teen.

All three of them waited in silence, until Kei fell to his knees.

“D-did you just make him swallow your blood!?” Akiteru started, stepping forwards, desperate to get to his brother.

Dragging his fingers through his messy black hair, the stranger replied softly. “I did.”  
He couldn’t have looked away even if he wanted to. Watching the taller teen realize he was going to turn into a ghoul was the most intriguing thing he had ever witnessed.

“I- I’ll help you- Kei” Akiteru called out to his brother, worried.

“I’ll watch over him” The black haired man interrupted. He suddenly felt protective, got surprised by himself. How was he going to watch over him again? The stranger realized he hadn’t thought this through at all.

“No you won’t, get away from him!” Akiteru stepped closer, threatening.  He was interrupted by the sound of light, slow footsteps. The two who remained standing both looked in the direction towards the stairs, but before the stranger even managed to ask himself who the walking person might be, he found himself getting pushed into a closet, butt first.

It was cramp, dark, and on top of that, the blond teen he had just kissed had been pushed on top of him. He was extremely confused, but before he could ask why the shorter of them had pushed them in there his mouth got blocked by a hand.  
He listened as the light footsteps moved past them, and into the kitchen. When everything clicked in his mind, he felt unusually sympathetic to the situation, and ignored the annoying feeling of the hand over his mouth. The older brother was probably trying to hide in fear of whoever was in the kitchen finding out. He respected that and stayed silent, since he wasn’t going to eat any of them anyway.  He smirked though, finding the fact that Akiteru had pushed them into a closet instead of hiding somewhere else quite funny.

A long silence lay over them, until the stranger could feel the teen in his lap moving.  Kei let out a low whimper, clutching at the fabric in front of him, which happened to be the stranger’s shirt. Kei couldn’t quite remember what was happening, and he felt horrible. His gut was twisting, and it felt like he was about to hurl, but at the same time he felt empty inside.  
He was about to whimper again, but was hushed by someone. His vision was blurry, and on top of that, it was dark. He couldn’t make out anything, where he was, what strange sounds he could hear, how he was sitting, or whom he was holding. Everything blurred so much that the only thing he could focus on was the whirling feeling inside of his gut.  

After the person left the kitchen and went upstairs again, the stranger found the teen in his lap to be trembling. Every inch of him wanted to comfort the teen, and to give him what he was craving.  

Sitting in silence for a few seconds more, the stranger suddenly felt the weight in his lap disappear and a sharp jab to his lower back hurled him out the closet door. Had he not been confident about his skills, he would have felt threatened, but he could only muster a smirk where he lay on the floor as he studied Akiteru whom was holding his brother protectively, kagune out and eyes glowing a deep red.

“Whoever you are, if my brother gets into trouble because of you, I will kill you,” Akiteru hissed.

“The name is Tetsuro kuroo” he sighted, not caring about Akiteru’s words at all. Tetsuro was too busy observing the way the taller blond was twisting and tugging at his brother’s shirt, somewhat unconscious. Oh how he wanted to touch and caress him, make him shiver as he gives him his first taste of blood.

 _Maybe the blood bond is affecting me already,_ Tetsuro thinks.

“And if you wonder, your precious brother needs me now,” Tetsuro said, smugly, before he realized Akiteru’s kagune felt like a ton of bricks when it hit him right across the chest.


	2. Awake and realize

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tetsuro realizes his mistakes, and Kei realizes what he has become.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it took a while, mostly because of all those darn Family responsibilities and so on. but here it finally is. the second chapter.

Tetsuro adjusted his eyes to the surroundings, and found himself to be in a dark bedroom. It was poorly decorated. Only a desk and a tiny closet were the first things he could see in addition to the pale ceiling.  Now that he wasn’t thinking of eating, he was more in touch with those other senses that had weakened earlier.  
He felt remorse over the way his hunger made him act so slyly. In the back of his mind he could gather that he had done something stupid. Instead of picking his normal source of meal, he had turned desperate, run into a town he didn’t know, and instead of eating someone, ending their life quickly he had…  
Dust particles fell slowly around him as He realized his doing.

Inhaling sharply, he looked to his side. He jolted up.

“So now you’re skittish?” Akiteru murmured. There was a silence, which was disturbed by someone whimpering.

Akiteru was sitting on a bed next to him, and Tetsuro could tell that the glasses wearing teen was in the bed too. His eyes slid over the seemingly shaking body, and he nearly stopped breathing when he saw the face he was making.

 “Not many Ghouls can take me out with _one_ blow,” Tetsuro stated, and his eyes snapped back to Akiteru. Surely, Akiteru would have taken him somewhere else if he was thinking about killing him, right? So there was no need for him to feel threatened. Or was Akiteru planning on feeding him to his twisting brother, introducing him to the cannibalisms world? People _did_ do a lot of weird shit when they were angry. He squinted.

“You can lower your guard…” Akiteru sighted.  
Tetsuro hesitated. How had Akiteru been able to knock him out again? He hadn’t even been sane enough to see what kind of Kagune the shorter possessed. Tetsuro debated with himself, coming to the conclusion that Akiteru had the element of surprise on his side, and that that was what had made him lose so easily; definitely not that he was stronger than him. In no terms could this guy posses a Kagune that was stronger than his anyway. No one could be stronger than him, at least not a previous human turned into a Ghoul… or was Akiteru born Ghoul?

He sniffed quickly; and the familiar weak scented presence informed him that, no, Akiteru wasn’t a born ghoul. If the smell was any indicator, it seemed like Akiteru had spent less than half of his life as a Ghoul. Yet, something didn’t smell right. There was this weak linger of something else. Something he hadn’t smelled before.

“How’s the transformation going?” Tetsuro asked, changing the subject. He eyed the trembling mess on the bed, yet again feeling that strange protective feeling he recalled from earlier. Although this time he felt enticed to him, and the longer he stared the stronger the feeling got.  
He knew blood bonds were supposed to be strong, but this was strange. Maybe it was because the teen’s blood smelled so delicious. At the thought, he inhaled deeply and the delicious scent had him leaning forwards, closer. It was such a sweet, yet fresh and delighting scent. It reminded him of the taste of raw, cold meat covered in frozen blood, maybe even as sweet as a bloodsickle.

“He’s not going to turn” Akiteru said, harshly. Tetsuro blinked, his thoughts torn away from the memory of the frozen goodie.  Wasn’t he supposed to focus?  
  
Of course, the teen would transform, he had already swallowed, and there was no turning back. Unless he died, of course… Akiteru must have known that, Tetsuro though. Maybe he was just denying it, and denying the undeniable was stupid.

“If not he’ll die” Tetsuro said bluntly, to then pause. He registered that Akiteru looked gloomy and sad where he sat, doing nothing to prove that his own words actually held any truth. The true state of a cornered man with no hope. It was true though. If this kid didn’t eat anything he would either turn mad or die. He reminded himself that this person hadn’t even been one of his usual picks of meal, this was a guy who as far as he knew had done nothing wrong.

“Did you bring me up here knowing that he needs me perhaps?” Tetsuro spoke, softly.  
No new Ghoul would be able to be too far away from the person who turned them. At the thought, Tetsuro realized he hadn’t thought this through enough, again. God he had really messed up this time. He should have just left instead of obeying his own urges.  
To be honest he wasn’t in the right position to be taking care of a newly turned Ghoul at the moment at all. How would he be able to keep being on the move and not get caught when he had... how to put it… a useless, needy and most likely, uncontrollable Ghoul to take care of? Nearly all newly turned Ghouls went uncontrollable the first week, and for some reason they had to stay close to their turner, or else they _really_ went uncontrollable.  
  
“Why did you have to curse him like this?” was all Akiteru replied.  
Stopping his own trail of thoughts again, a frown formed on Tetsuro’s face. In no way was being a ghoul a curse… it was an honor, if you looked away from the first weeks of course. This guy in front of him was a Ghoul too, was he not? How could he call it a curse? Was this common thinking of those who had been turned into ghouls, and not born with the glory?

“Cursed him? I blessed him” Tetsuro stood up, eying the twitching teen in the bed. As soon as the teen felt Tetsuro’s eyes on him, he whined loudly, and turned around, facing away from them. To Tetsuro he didn’t look conscious, but it seemed like he was in deep pain. Something pulled at his soul again, something unnatural and new.

“No, you’ve turned him into a monster.” Akiteru sneered. He caught his attention as he stood up, and neared him with no caution. Standing still, Tetsuro stared Akiteru in the eyes, with no intent of moving backwards.

“Humans are the ones who are monsters,” Tetsuro said.

“Not every human is a monster,” Akiteru hissed.

“What, not every human wants us Ghouls’ dead? Don’t give me that shit,” Tetsuro laughed. Akiteru tensed and clenched his fists.

“Every human deserves to die. Humans are weak, and disgusting. They send out hunters… who kill kids and parents who are too scared to leave their children... Furthermore, if you’re a ghoul, every human will look at you like you’re trash, something that can’t be on the streets or in any environment …”  
He pricked Akiteru’s chest with his index finger, hard, and pushed past him. The shorter man was left opening and closing his mouth as he tried to say something.

“You should be happy I blessed your brother, I’ve turned him into a more respectable species.” Tetsuro added, looming over the teen in the bed. Kei was clutching the duvet, and his glasses were askew. His breathing came in hitches, and although Tetsuro couldn’t see his face anymore, he knew it was a pained one.

“Kei didn’t want me dead, even when I became a ghoul; he was respectable before you came here. He took his time to do research, to help me, even risked his life for me…” Akiteru whispered, patient, even as his clenched fists trembled.

“ _Oh really?”_ Tetsuro breathed, barely loud enough for Akiteru to hear.  
He hadn’t realized how much he had wanted to know this blondie’s name before he had finally got the honor of knowing. This kid, this blondie who wore glasses… he was kind enough to help a ghoul?

_Kei_

_Kei_

_Kei_

The name repeated itself in his head. Before he knew it, he felt his own face heat up.

He couldn’t understand why.  This kid couldn’t be cute, he argued with himself. He was bratty, tall, and had even made him feel mocked. Besides, he had been a human not even thirty minutes ago. He couldn’t think something _that_ human was cute. Small human children who laughed and fell could be written off as _amusing_ to him at times, but under no circumstances had he ever thought they were cute. Yet this brat simply ticked off a fucking _cuteness-overload_ in his brain. Maybe it was the blood-bond messing with him. Maybe the scent that reminded him of the frozen goodies was starting to mess with him too?

He covered his mouth simply to be sure that he wouldn’t start _drooling._

“If you continue staring at him like that I’ll throw you out the window”

Tetsuro jolted. Was the other guy still there?! Oh, wait…

“Look… Kuroo, asshole. No matter how much I want to kill you in every way possible right now, I understand that my brother won’t be able to last the next week unless you stay here. I promised him I wouldn’t kill anyone too, so you’re safe from me now, but I expect you to take responsibility for your actions.” Akiteru stared at the black haired teen as he spoke, and his eyes were burning with something Tetsuro couldn’t decide was anger or protectiveness.

“You even said you’d take care of him earlier.” Akiteru reminded him, seething with anger.

Then there was this problem, Tetsuro reminded himself.

“I- I’m sort of on the move.” He started.

“No, you’re staying. If you as much as try to escape from this town I’ll hunt you down.” Akiteru continued. Tetsuro was about to protest, but Akiteru interrupted him, again.

“Not that you could escape anyway though… You can sleep in the garage. Mom never goes there, and there is a mattress at the second floor. “

“I don’t sleep much,” Tetsuro complained. He questioned the first part of Akiteru’s words, but was left no time to think before he was presented with another line of words.

“I don’t care. You need to be here for him to have at least a hint of control. We have meat enough in the freezer up on the attic, if you’re that hungry” Akiteru said.

“Risky considering you don’t want your mom finding out… and how does that part about _not killing_ sum up with that?” Tetsuro hummed teasingly.

“Kei has been stealing parts and bits from the morgue all week... The meat died on its own,” Akiteru informed.

Stealing from a morgue, that was new, even for Tetsuro. He could understand the benefits of collecting dead meat that was stored nicely though, and this really did help his case, a lot. Right now one of the only things that kept him from killing the closest person and eating them was the fact that Akiteru’s punch had somewhat snapped him out of the hunger. How that worked he didn’t know though.  
He looked at Akiteru and then back to Kei. In the short time he had interacted with them, he already felt like they were more amusing than most of the people he encountered that lived to leave an impression on him.  
Another thought caught up to him, and he grimaced.

“I’m not going to sleep on some worn out matrass in an old garage, I only sleep in luxury” He huffed. It was a lie; he was used to sleeping on rooftops if he had to. He simply wanted to argue.

“You’re a real pain in the ass, aren’t you? Look, I’m only allowing you to be here because I love my brother and he _needs_ you, no amount of actual meat will satisfy him the first time”

“you’re _making_ me stay here,” Tetsuro corrected, or lied. He opened his mouth to say something else too, but directed his attention towards the bed as it creaked slightly.

“I had homework,” Kei muttered, sounding tired and confused.

Kei’s figure was easy to see when he sat up on the opposite edge. The streetlight outside illuminated his right side, and made his skin seem sickly pale. Everything went silent as the arguing ceased. Tetsuro and Akiteru both observed him.  
Kei’s face remained hidden as he was facing away from them .Both Tetsuro and Akiteru looked at him in silence and confusion.

“That’s what you are thinking of?!” Tetsuro couldn’t help but to raise his voice. Here they had been discussing life and death, and maybe argued a bit, only for this brat to care about his _homework!?_

Akiteru sighted heavily, relieved “At least that’s better than-”

“I’m hungry.” Kei continued, to which both standing ghouls’ tensed and turned more serious at.

Sitting still on the bed, Kei swallowed dryly and looked down at the floor. Everything was a blur in his line of vision, and he even failed to make out the pattern on his own socks. Furthermore, the voices he had heard were all too loud and too weak at the same time. Something was obviously wrong.  For a few seconds he tried to suppress the growing hunger meanwhile trying to remember every detail of what had happened up to the point where he had fainted; something that felt like a vague memory rather than something that had happened minutes ago.

He had swallowed ghoul blood, and this was him, reacting to the transformation? Kei clutched the bed sheets bellow his hands. He knew feeling this kind of hungry was bad, and that if he didn’t do something his vision would probably turn grey and his mind would be lost. This all before he went on an unconscious rampage, killing everything, hostile or not.  
He felt too weak to even utter his thoughts. Surely, his brother would understand and try to help him, right? At the thought, he didn’t want his brother to even be in the same house as him. The same reason why creatures that entered this city could not leave it was the same that had turned his brother into something he originally shouldn’t have been turned into. If circumstances were right, he could turn into just as much of a freak Ghoul as his brother, or even worse.

It felt awful and his head throbbed with pain as he turned slowly to look at Akiteru with a pleading expression.

“Kei, just hang on a few minutes-” The completely blurry and upstanding blob that Kei managed to focus his eyes on came closer, and the disrupted sound, gentle and recognizable, reached him.

“Hey… don’t get to close to him.” Tetsuro reached out, grasping Akiteru’s shoulder and holding him still.

“I can’t just stand there,” Akiteru said, violently shaking off Tetsuro’s hand. “If you won’t help I’ll have to do something-“

“Don’t you remember how turning was? He probably won’t care you’re his brother and that you reek of ghoul when his nose starts working” Tetsuro pushed Akiteru to the side, gently, and moved forwards.

“I’ll help, and give him what he needs right now. You can pamper him with love all you want later.” Fixing his gaze to look at Akiteru for a reply, he smirked; pleased when the shorter didn’t say a word. Akiteru observed sternly instead, crossing his arms.

Tetsuro then studied the way that pleading expression of Kei’s turned more into a confused one, how his eyes followed his movements as he moved in front of him. In the back of his mind he hoped that annoying urge to hold and touch the blond that sat so timidly in front of him would disappear. Furthermore, he was totally going to give the kid he had planned on eating the easiest first meal a ghoul could get, it was pathetic; but at the same time this _was_ one of the first things he had wanted to do the second the teen had begun to turn.  
_“I’m so pathetic”_ echoed in his head.

“You’re not Aki” Kei managed, strained.

“No. Tall, handsome and cute. It’s me, your guest,” Tetsuro answered cheekily, before squatting down to level himself with the teen and looking up at him. He took notice of how Kei was clenching his fists, and struggling to hold them that way. Kei was still looking at him, squinting, and his eyes reflected the little light that came from outside. His stare was unfocused, and to Tetsuro it seemed like he was struggling to make out what was in front of him.

“How much can you see?”

_No answer._

“Can you hear me?” Tetsuro raised his voice, impatient. He knew Kei was able to hear Akiteru, so he shouldn’t have problems with hearing him, but it could be that Kei was already losing his mind. After a short silence, all response he got was the shift of Kei’s dull stare. He followed Kei’s gaze, only to realize the blondie was looking at his chest.

 _“He can probably hear my heartbeat.”_ Lifting his hand to lay it over his chest, he got Kei’s attention again. _“How adorable…”_

“Lucky you, I’m going to let you suck some more on my blood” Tetsuro sang.

Tetsuro then took notice of how Kei’s nose then immediately scrunched up and how his expression twisted into one of disgust.

“Don’t want to”

 _“_ _OH SO YOU HEARD THAT,”_ he thought.  “Fine…”

Scrapping a nail down the underside of his own wrist, a deep cut quickly started seeping with blood. Kei’s eyes widen, their color turning into a mixture of bright red and a dark, vibrant Maroon. His attempt to run away was reduced to a mere twitch due to the strong arm grabbing hold of him, turning him completely immobile and unable to do anything when owner of said arm placed his bloody wrist on his lips.  
Tetsuro pressed Kei down on the bed, trying to keep him still.

Little by little, he stopped struggling. Tetsuro watched those deep maroon eyes fall half-lidded, and sighted in relief.

It didn’t take long before the dark room’s silence was replaced with the occasional sound of smacking lips, and muffled breathing.  
Shifting his grip to press Kei down by the chest instead, Tetsuro averted his gaze to the side. The way Kei was licking and sucking up every drop of blood that came dripping out of the wound tickled, and somewhat reminded him of someone licking a Popsicle. The _sounds_ Kei made though, oh God they reminded him of something else, weak, needy and breathy.  
He had caught a glimpse of how Kei’s tongue went over the wound a few times too, how he sucked like it was the finest thing he could be drinking.

Tetsuro wasn’t sure how long it had been, but once he realized how warm his own cheeks felt he quickly lowered his head to hide the creeping blush. He also noticed Akiteru was facing away from them, still crossing his arms over his chest.

Fuck. He just needed to let the blond drink enough to not go on a killer spree, right? Enough would be when he started feeling dizzy. Decreasing the weight he had put on Kei’s chest, he looked at him, just to see how he was doing. What a mistake… when this was over he could go rest in that stupid garage, and maybe relieve his _growing boner_.  
He had glanced at Kei in the exact moment he had doted his tongue out to lick at the wound, and a tiny droplet of blood was rolling down the underside of his jaw.  
Swallowing thickly, he let the teen continue his feeding without interruption.  

“ _Oh god I really am pathetic,”_ he thought, helplessly. The sounds kept making him blush more and more, and then there was this _look_ in his eyes. Kei wasn’t looking at anything in particular, but it felt like he was looking straight at him, licking slowly on purpose. _  
_ This couldn’t be happening! He was fearsome, not some horny teenager who got a boner from some simple blood sucking! Tetsuro whined mentally.

“Don’t tell me this is going to be _that_ type of blood-bond” He heard Akiteru hiss, sounding disgusted.

Truth be told, Tetsuro couldn’t function right at that moment. He simply lowered his head in defeat and tried to awkwardly hide his boner with his free hand, tugging at his sweater and hoping the older brother wouldn’t literally throw him out the window.

“I’m just going to wait outside.  Do anything else to him and you’re dead”

The sound of the door clicking softly followed up, and Tetsuro sighted. This really was bad. How could he possibly stay close to this kid while still being on the move… and not get distracted. He admitted it. He wasn’t the kind of guy who could turn just about anyone into a blushing mess, he often had problems not becoming the same kind of mess himself. Often he would have to leave the area if one of his chosen “partners” (dinner’s) for the night talked dirty back. It was rare, but it had happened.

Minute by minute, Tetsuro’s confidence was starting to crack, and his case only got worse. He just hoped this would be over soon.

.

.

.

“mm- ‘m full” Kei muttered, swallowing and looking up at Tetsuro, his lips covered in blood and his eyes clearer than before.

Tetsuro was relieved to see a hint of consciousness in Kei’s eyes, but he didn’t hoover over the blond long enough for the other to get a glimpse of how he currently looked. As soon as he saw Kei’s eyes turn back to normal he opened the window and escaped to the garage, leaving the other alone.

Kei wiped his mouth before doing anything else. The entire time he had been drinking, he hadn’t really been able to really think or focus on anything. The taste of blood felt awfully good on his taste buds, that was the only thing he had gathered. That, and the black haired guy had been feeding him.

Before he could think of anything else, Akiteru came in.

Akiteru’s reassuring expression looked forced, but he dumped a heavy paper bag in Kei’s lap before he could point it out.

“Eat” Was Akiteru’s simple command.

Even how disgusting he thought it was, even if he had been full just seconds ago, he did.

.

.

.

Out the rest of the night, Tetsuro could hear the two talking and even arguing slightly. The two had been whispering the whole time, but he could hear them anyway.  
Somewhere in the middle of the timespan he had escaped out the window and up to now, he had desperately tried to block out both of their voices to suppress his boner.

He had been ashamed, yes. Not because he found guys horrible, but because this kid was literally helpless at the moment. The orgasm he could had gotten from being so dizzy and so turned on at the same time could have been one of the best he had had in ages, but he couldn’t let himself do it.

As the _problem_ had ceased to exist, Tetsuro had taken notice of the things around him. The garage Akiteru had kindly forced him to rest in was actually somewhat cozy. It had a window above the bed, which was partly the reason why he could hear the two siblings so well, and the lights from the first floor kind of crept in-between the cracks of the floor he was sleeping on, illuminating bits and parts of the room. It wasn’t what he was used to, it was better; but there was something, a thing that kept nagging in the back of his mind. Something that made him unable to rest.

His own eyes were deep red and had a slightly less red circle around the black pupils… but Kei’s eyes had been a deep maroon that gradually mixed with a lighter red the closer to the pupils it got. It shouldn’t have bothered him, but it did. The Ghouls that were turned were supposed to gain all the traits of those who turned them, weren’t they?  
And what had Akiteru meant earlier, when he told him he couldn’t escape?

It couldn’t be that this little town was…

He sat up and looked out the window, his heart thumping harder in his already sore chest. Using his ghoul eyes to see better in the darkness, he detected a bunch of traffic signs further down the street.  
It was as if all sounds silenced, as he read the familiar name.

It was the name of the town that no creature beyond human, good or bad, could escape from, _“karasuno.”_


	3. unexpected

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> things take an unexpected turn, for the better or for the worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this took a looooong time, (lmao. I simply forgot how to write for a couple of months) but the chapter is much longer than the previous chapters! I hope it will pique your interest!

Akiteru was glaring. While Kei sat in a bent position with his head lowered, he was glaring holes in what Kei had thought was his own impenetrable soul.   
He had expected this. Of course Akiteru would be mad at him for messing up like that, for scaring him and leaving him under such pressure. It was obvious their day wouldn’t move on without this scolding, but it hurt. As much as he knew Akiteru’s forms of love and his ways of caring, he wished Akiteru would simply leave the topic alone at the moment. He barely knew how much he could handle, or if he was even going to be able to respond.

“What would you do if I hadn’t woken up!?”  Akiteru asked, as low as possible. He had taken up the fine art of shouting and whispering at the same time. All just to not wake up their mom, something that was crucial should Kei not be as unfortunate as to lose his _human_ mind when she entered the room.

Kei blinked. What would he have done? He hadn’t thought of it. His mind was still as blank as it had been when he had opened the door. He guessed dying would have been better, as morbid and pathetic as it sounded.

_Pathetic._

The word echoed in his mind.

“Did you think that everything would simply turn out alright if you didn’t warn me? That you wouldn’t die!?” Akiteru gestured with his hands as he talked, and then stood still as he waited for an answer. The silence spoke more than Kei intended.

Akiteru was towering in front of him and Kei continued to look at his own feet, trying to soothe himself subconsciously. He had his hands folded in his lap, his fingers intertwining in the same way he used to fixate them when he was nervous. Akiteru had never scolded him like this, ever. Moreover, he had never felt as remorseful while being lectured as now either. The simple “I was tired” in all its truth and honesty wasn’t going to be enough to fix this one.

  _I should have died._

It crept in the back of his mind.

“Did you even feel scared!?” Akiteru’s voice cracked.

“I… I did”

 “Then why on earth… Why would you not call for me before opening the door?”

It was obvious why he had not. The sleep deprivation, the exhaustion from being overworked, it all added up, didn’t it?! Then why was Akiteru so mad at him because of him slipping up when he was beyond exhausted?  
He knew why…but why.  He didn’t even want to think of it. The reason why Akiteru was scolding him…

“Kei… do you realize how this one slip up will impact your life?” Akiteru whispered. “Our lives… everything _you_ tried to work for, what _we’ve_ worked for…”

Kei tried to focus on the floor, but it was turning blurry. The floor tiles were looking wobbly for some reason.

“Now we have no safe way to get out of here… if we even try, we’re going to be found. We… we can trash around hiding in here for ages, but eventually, we’ll be found and then they’ll kill us both!.”  
Akiteru’s words stung. The voice he had was a blaming one, and it was blaming him so much Kei could not bear it. The words dug deep into his heart, making his gut and chest hurt more than what the first seconds of the transformation had.

“I- I can learn to contain it, like you did. I’ll continue to work for what we’ve been aiming for the entire time- I…” He was irrupted by Akiteru.

“It took me years to be able to stand in front of a human that was not my own family and not even think of eating them…you know what happened to dad.”

Those words made him quiver and reminded him of what had happened seven years ago.

“This means we’re out of options” Akiteru sighted.

Kei’s eyes widened. He knew what Akiteru was going to say. The plan he had spent four years on was already shattered and he knew they really did not have any other option, but he didn’t want his older brother to say it.

“If we have to, we will break out of here and become refuges.”

 _Refuges_ … the word any Ghoul knew what meant. It was a death sentence on undecided time.

_If we become that, the entire police force and CCG will be alerted and we’ll be hunted down._

“Police forces or CCG, they’re all a pain in the ass, but if we manage to stay low after we’ve escaped…” Akiteru started, standing with his fist clenched over his chest.

Kei felt an unexpected sensation of a hand ruffling his hair and tensed.

“We’ll survive. Just don’t scare me like that ever again; I won’t be able to handle it”.

Glancing up at his brother with teary eyes, he opened his mouth to say something, but the words never turned into more than a thought. His mouth was agape as he tried to speak.

The sound of water steadily dripping on roof-tiles was captivating in such a situation. It was broken by a loud splash down on the street. The splash was loud enough to catch the attention of both of them, but Akiteru dismissed Kei’s alarm.

“Probably a bird.”

“I’m sorry-,” Kei piped up, his voice only stuttering slightly.

After a short silence, Akiteru moved his hand through his little brother’s hair again.

“I know-” He paused.

“-But on the other hand… couldn’t you at least have chosen someone… uh... you know… _decent_ as your turner?”

Kei wiped his tears, glancing up with a confused expression. Was Akiteru implying something rude, or was he joking?

“What do you mean?” He squinted, pulling of a crappy excuse for an intimidating look- considering his cheeks and the corners of his eyes were still red from the low-key crying he had been doing.

Akiteru shrugged vaguely. How did he even do that?

“You know… The dude wears a fucking bird nest on his head… if being a ghoul isn’t creepy enough then _that_ is!”

Looking out the window, Kei grumbled a little.  “I think that nest was his actual hair…”

His thoughts wandered. That guy would be his only hope, and he didn’t even know him. As much as he hated it he would actually have to get involved with and get to know a guy whom had only a mere hour ago tried to eat him. The thought drained him, and then his current thoughts trailed off again as he remembered the way the guy had fled to the garage. What was that about anyway? That jerk seemed more than willing to mock him. If anything, the fact that he had successfully force fed him would have been perfect mocking material.

“It’s not like I wanted him to be my-” Kei’s words withered as a sudden thud came from his desk, and he snapped around to glare at the source of the sound so quick Akiteru jolted.

Akiteru looked at the culprit, a book and a pen that had slid down from the desk. Taking a good look at the desk, he grimaced at the pile of books and papers. Had his little brother been falling behind or something? He couldn’t remember having that much homework when he was younger.

“Right, uhm, don’t worry about your homework for now. You’re not going to school tomorrow. I mean today.”

Nodding slightly, Kei managed to tear his gaze away from the book. His mind was getting sluggish again, and as he was about to word his thoughts, a loud grumble came from his stomach.

“I take the hint!” Akiteru yelped, turning to the door rather quickly.

He was gone in a second, and Kei could barely blink before he was back again, this time holding two brown paper bags with something bloody and heavy inside. _Two?_ He wasn’t seeing double, right? He couldn’t even ask before Akiteru had once again disappeared, leaving only one bag on his desk. Maybe the other was for the uninvited guest?

Kei stood up, feeling as if the floor itself was wobbly. He knew he had to eat to prevent himself from going crazy, so focusing with all his might; he walked over to the desk, picking up the ugly bag. It was already dripping blood. How disgusting… he would have to eat this for the rest of his life now? Gross!...

In sheer curiosity, he sniffed on it.

An explosion of red and darkness filled the room in the split second he inhaled the scent. It was a silent incident, where only his eyes actually turned into their ghoul form. It was simply his mind that had been filled with the illusion that everything was nothing but darkness and red. Whatever happened, he was unaware off it, but a longing for something- someone, clouded his mind more than the illusion.

The sound of him opening the window was covered up entirely by the rain, and thus the sound of his feet moving quickly over grass was covered up too. Slowly, the brown paper bag that had been holding a piece of human meat only seconds ago fell onto the grass, next to a visible trail of footprints

 

 

* * *

 

Akiteru took the remaining bag to the garage, pleased to see the hatch to the second floor open. That meant he wouldn’t have to wrestle that damn rusty lock that always acted up when he was in a hurry to lock himself in back in the days. He exhaled loudly to mentally prepare himself to see the face of that asshole again- and took down the ladder.

“Hello sweet asshole!!” he sang with a fake tone and an absolutely horrifying smile as he peeked up. He dumped the tiny bag down in front of himself and looked over to the lone matrass, expecting to see the smuggest expression coming from MR rude birdnest.

Akiteru’s smile faded as the only sound coming from the room was the steady blowing wind from the agape window.

 

 

* * *

 

Walking into an alleyway on the streets, Tetsuro struggled to keep himself sane. He had looked around every street, studied every sign and damn it- there was no doubt. He kicked a trash can so hard it flew down the street and ended up hitting a streetlight, making it flicker as the metal construction got bent. He briefly wondered if he should kick the trash that flew out of the can too, but slid down next to a container instead, grasping his hair and breathing heavily.

He couldn’t think of anything else than how his own testament should go.

_Dear no one- if you find my lifeless body and you’re a ghoul then please don’t eat my dick- I love it very much…_

He laughed lowly at his own thoughts, with no sign of happiness of any kind on his face. He knew more than anyone how cruel the CCG were when they killed a ghoul- sometimes simply leaving the body on the street to rot amongst garbage and flies, so how could he be happy?

For someone who had never lost faith in his own skill and ability to slip away from those demons that screamed “peace” yet murdered like crazy, Tetsuro felt terrified. It was like a wall of darkness loomed over him- destroying his last piece of hope. Together with the disgusting smell of trash and the wetness of the rain it became too much and he thanked the rain for washing away his tears.

It was game over. Once you go to Karasuno you never come back, even if you escape you die. It’s a known fact in all of japan.

Tetsuro remembered that bout forty years ago- a crazy technician once experimented on radars and accidentally created a system that could catch up the difference between normal humans, and creatures such as ghouls. The radars were set up around the city to protect the citizens, but the second it was installed a huge explosion killed that man who had created them, along with the secret behind the radar system. The explosion had been a Ghoul’s work of course…

In later times, the strange phenomena’s that did something weird with the creatures in the area after the explosion never got solved- but it was suggested that it was the radar system itself that messed them up. 

Mutations such as multiplied kagune’s or switching of abilities happened. There had once been a case on the news, regarding someone who had originally been a werewolf that had suddenly overnight switched abilities with a nearby kelpie. You could imagine the chaos that had caused. Tetsuro had read all about it. He had also read about how the ghouls who tried to escape from this place got tracked down easily due to the radar- that ironically only worked on a thin line, so those who were trapped in the city wouldn’t be found unless they actually tried to escape. This meant the ghouls in the city had nowhere to go if they fucked up, and so to speak, every ghoul was malnourished or mentally unstable because of this, always on edge- always suppressing their needs.

As for the mutated kagunes’- some people seemed to get the kagune of their relatives, or “borrow” some of their traits, _if_ one of their relatives was a ghoul.

Thinking about it, Tetsuro didn’t even find it in himself to be angry at that blond brat for seemingly have taken _his brother’s_ traits instead of _his_ \- if the eyes were any indicator. What a pain though, the first guy he successfully turns and he happens to take a complete strangers traits instead of his.

Letting go of a pained laugh, Tetsuro wiped his face.

“What am I thinking,” he mumbled, looking at the clouds. His mind really shouldn’t be wandering to that _kei_. He had his own damn life to think of. The reason he was on the move was because he was already being tracked, and now if he tried to escape he would get tracked _even more._ Really, for Akiteru to force him to stay would be idiotic, considering the fact that people would find them even if they stayed low.

Something ached in his chest. Trying to figure out why, his thoughts wandered to the fact that Kei and his brother were somewhat in the same situation as him, only that they had been in it for God knew how long. How could the older brother be so painfully optimistic though? Didn’t he know that one day it would all go to hell, no matter how much he tried to prevent it? Especially if he had family to take care of! Being only one was risky enough…

It started bothering him endlessly as he remembered something about Akiteru talking about a plan- the last thing he had heard from the two before he had ran away. What if those two could have been his free ticket out of there if he hadn’t decided to mess with kei?

He growled in rage and hit the container behind him, jolting when a loud “meow” came from inside it and a dirty looking black cat suddenly jumped out to hiss at him. In his rage, he only hissed back, not caring how childish it looked. The cat ran away, and Tetsuro glared at it until it disappeared behind the street corner.

“Tch!” _stupid cat…_

Just as he thought he was alone, the cat suddenly came running back- scaring the life out of him as it jumped over his head and back into the container.

He swore loudly, kicking the container in his aftershock and covering his clawed up nose.

“Stupid cat!! Show yourself!!!”  He screamed. He wanted revenge.

“Who’s a stupid cat?” a shy voice from behind him crept. Tetsuro almost choked on the air that was already in his lungs, spinning around faster than a lightning. His kagune exploded out, ripping up his already ripped shirt even more. Aiming for the source of the sound, he felt a slight adrenaline rush when he hit something soft and heard it fly across the street. In his own fright his vision had been blocked by his kagune, but as he lowered them, it came back. He curled his four kagune tentacles up in the same way his fists curled up.

“Take that for sneaking up on me! You creepy, disgusting perv- ahh…,” He started, but the words faded when he saw what he had actually hit.

 

 

* * *

 

Akiteru was furious, once again. This time with far more reason than before. He couldn’t believe it. First he finds out that the person he clearly told not to run away has ran away- and then he finds out that his brother, and newly turned ghoul and an absolute danger to anyone around him, has disappeared too!

Fucking unbelievable.

“Kei!?” He yelled, running down the streets. He knew yelling wasn’t polite so late, or early in the morning, but right now politeness wasn’t the first thing he thought about. After running down the streets for a good while, he realized that yelling might not be a good idea, since it might cause someone to call the police or something. He really didn’t want that, so instead he switched to using his superb hearing, vision, and sense of smell; three senses he had been honing for about seven years.

It didn’t take long before he caught on to the scent of Kei’s quite uncharacteristic strawberry shampoo- even if it was four days since Kei used that shampoo, and he had already showered twice after using it. Akiteru had a delicate nose, if he could say so himself.

While running towards that scent, he also caught on to the scent of that damn kuroo guy. The scent of dust and blood, to be more precise. He hadn’t mentioned it earlier, but he could tell from the way Kuroo’s clothes smelled like old rooftops, blood and dust that he wasn’t some guy who slept in _luxury_ as he had claimed.

Huffing loudly he took off and ran into a dark alleyway, the scent only growing stronger. He was close, and he suddenly heard a loud set of sounds, all very familiar and obviously coming from kuroo. Akiteru ran around a street corner, only to jolt and stop dead in his tracks as he saw that damn black haired monster send his little brother flying into the building on the other side of the street.

Kei only slid down, seemingly unconscious and bleeding from a cut on his cheek. The sight shocked Akiteru momentarily. How could he… how in the world could he have let his own little brother get hit like that!? Self-hatred welled up inside of him, but in the split of a second his world turned red and all the rage he felt was directed entirely on Kuroo as he heard him stutter out the words _“take that you disgusting, creepy pervert”_ and do a fucking victory fist pump at the same time!

Oh, he was going to pay!

Not knowing the situation wasn’t anything that would Stop Akiteru in his tracks. As the rage seethed out of him, he unleashed his own kagune, feeling it twitch with the need to kill. He had promised Kei not to kill, but that wouldn’t stop him from _almost_ killing.

“ **KUROO!!”** he roared, rage filling his maroon irises and fury powering his kagune as it split into seven feathers that darted towards the black haired boy. The tips were razor sharp, with thin uneven spikes that bent towards the kagune wielder himself, making them excellent hooks.  
Tetsuro jolted and focused on his sudden challenger- albeit he was still shocked from seeing who he had sent flying into a wall.

“Wait!-,” eyes widening and pupils dilating, Tetsuro didn’t get even a second to explain himself. The sight before him was simply too horrifying for him to move too.

The dust on the street was whipped away with the gust that came from Akiteru’s punch- and a row of nearby windows shattered. His kagune had hit the perfect spot on Tetsuro’s chest, and in a weak willed attempt at not actually killing him, Akiteru had dulled the tips of his feathers a little. This meant Tetsuro wouldn’t get pierced, but the punch sent him straight into the nearest apartment building in that direction anyway, which was an impressive forty meters down the street.

Tetsuro’s world went blank at that moment, the pain in his chest making him unable to breathe or even move. All that came from him as he slid down from the wall was a low, shattered and pained exhale.

_Get up, get up, get up!_

The words screamed inside his head on repeat like a siren. He had to get up, or else he would die! He fixed his eyes at where Akiteru had been just a few seconds ago, and felt a drain in his soul as there was nothing else there to look at besides a leaf that was moving slightly due to a draft. It was impossible, right? Such a speed…  
his vision was burring, but he still looked to his left in an attempt to get more visual information. A figure was looming over him, and the hellish aura that surrounded the figure reminded him of death.

He couldn’t stare long before a hand grasped his head and smashed it into the already crumbling brick wall behind him.

“W-wait”

Coughing up blood and gasping shallowly, he once again looked at Akiteru who was grasping his head with force. Tetsuro understood why the older was angry, but damn… he was afraid his excuse wasn’t good enough.

“Y-your brother…,” he began, wanting to tell how Kei had surprised him and scared the crap out of him. How he hadn’t meant to punch him so hard, or even punch him at all! And how he didn’t mean to say those words. Tetsuro wanted to tell him how awful it felt, but another cough filled with blood stopped him and pain shot to his head as if it was pulsating. Why was he bleeding so hard? Why was his head hurting so much!?

“My brother,” Akiteru gasped. His eyes snapped back to normal and his kagune disappeared. Letting go of Tetsuro and turning around quickly, Akiteru hurried over to his brother.  

Blinking, as he was finally free, Tetsuro clutched at his own chest and inhaled sharply. He allowed himself to fall down on the asphalt while healing himself. It was yet another thing that made him superior to humans. This ability to heal. He couldn’t be too confident about it though, since Akiteru seemed far from stable. That damn Akiteru had some real mood-swings! Holding him up against a wall and threatening to kill him one second, and being so damn worried the other. No wonder he was so scary…

Glancing over at the two, just to be sure Kei was ok; he let out a sigh when he saw a slight movement coming from the younger. The other was hunched over, embraced by Akiteru’s arms. Were they hugging?

The pain in his head slowly disappeared as he forced the healing proses to go faster, and soon the chest pain was gone too.

He clicked his tongue. Why was that brat out anyway? _He_ was the one who had a reason to try to run away, not kei! Had that kid followed him? In that case, how did he know that he was there? He almost felt a little honored that Kei had followed him though, and somewhat protective of him too. He grimaced. It was that stupid blood-bond again…

_Stupid brats shouldn’t go following dangerous men as me, damn it…What a moron…_

A short, rapidly repeating sound rung in the air, and Tetsuro snapped his head up slightly.  

“Aww man-” Groaning loudly and pushing himself up on his side, he looked around.

“This is just perfect” he jested, before laughing cynically to himself.

Akiteru, who was busy checking if kei was alright, looked at him angrily.

“What are you laughing at?” He demanded.

“Listen”

Akiteru glanced around, holding his breath just to be even more silent. He squinted a little as he glared at the other, the sound filling the streets, far away.  How could he be so stupid?

The sirens that rung loudly could only mean one thing.

“Fuck”

Lifting Kei’s unmoving body over his own shoulder, Akiteru walked over to Tetsuro. The younger jolted, scurrying closer to the wall and finding himself at loss when he really couldn’t press his back harder against the crushed bricks. Laughing nervously, he gave Akiteru one of his signature grins, only ridden with fear and not nearly as confident as it should look. Swallowing hard, he looked him in the eyes.

_Please don’t kill me…_

“I’m taking you with me- scum” Akiteru groaned, not impressed by Kuroo’s behavior.

_No way in hell!_

“You and what arm-” Tetsuro didn’t get to finish his confidence-lacking and spiteful sentence before Akiteru had quite effortlessly hoisted him up in the air with one of his kagune feathers.

“This arm”

“W-wha- let go of me!” Tetsuro protested, whispering bitterly. No way was he going to let this man manhandle him like this. Sure, the guy _was_ stronger and seemingly more intelligent than him, but he wouldn’t let him!

“Just shut up,” Akiteru whispered back. He was already on the move, running down the street. He could hear the sound of tires screeching against the asphalt as some vehicles took a sharp turn. They were closing in already!?

“I won’t!” Tetsuro whispered louder, struggling with all his might. That damn kagune feather was wrapped around him and over his lower back, making it difficult for him to even release his own kagune. _Fuck this!_ Why was Akiteru so damn persistent!? If they at least split up then there would be a bigger chance of them surviving.

“Stop moving!” Akiteru yelled. His grip around kuroo was slowly getting worse; and he definitely didn’t find the situation easier when the other was so stubborn, wiggling around like a damn worm. Turning around a corner, he dodged into a backstreet just as a police car drove past. He cursed lowly and figured he would have to try reasoning with this kid. If not the whole point of running away would be pointless, wouldn’t’ it?

Ready to drop Kuroo down, he felt a sharp pain in his only outstretched kagune feather, and a millisecond later, a wet thud echoed in the tiny backstreet. Eyes widening and breath hitching, he glanced over his shoulder. There, on the dirty and wet ground, he could see his own flesh- in the form of his formerly attached feather, twitching from getting cut off from his body.

Panting heavily, Kuroo stood tall, trying to look threatening.

Turning to face the black haired pest and sliding Kei down to the ground, Akiteru only stared. Maybe breaking out on a rampage would have felt good, but right now his own and his little brother’s life were on the line. It could wait, right? He knew exactly where to go- it wouldn’t even be difficult. Maybe he could knock that bird nest off of that shit when they got there?

He could hear the sirens getting closer again… Most likely, those cops had realized they had driven past them. What a pain. Should he go knockout-style again then?

He stood in a protective way in front of Kei, while also curling his six remaining feathers into a fine launching position. The black haired kid in front of him doing the same. He looked more like he wanted to run than fight though, and Akiteru decided he wouldn’t hit as hard as he did the first time he had knocked Kuroo out…

“N-nii-chan…”

Moving ever so slightly, Kei tugged at his brother’s pants. The tug bringing his brother’s attention back to him. At hearing the youngest speak, Tetsuro also stalled his urge to fight. Both of them withdrew their Kagune, silently observing him.

All attention was on Kei for a moment.

“You know what- I can run away from you later…” Tetsuro whispered. It was stupid, right? Choosing a helpless teenager over his own life… he blamed it on the blood-bond… _again._

“I agree on that.” Akiteru huffed.

In a moment of unspoken teamwork, Tetsuro helped Akiteru bring Kei back up on his feet. Holding around his waist, Tetsuro stabilized the younger, while Akiteru held around his upper body to hold him up. They both stumbled further down the backstreet, and Akiteru led the way through a narrow passage that Tetsuro would have sworn wasn’t there just a few seconds ago. Just in time too. He could hear the police officers swear and yell commands at each other back in the same street they came from…

“Do you know where to go?”

Tetsuro found himself agitated at the fact that he would have to cooperate with Akiteru, should he be able to protect Kei- as moronic as the urge was.

The other never answered, but surprisingly enough, Tetsuro found it much easier than expected to get away from the cops. Akiteru’s navigating through narrow streets, filthy garbage yards and even busy roads was exceptional. He wondered how often the man had taken exactly this route to know it so well, or if he was just so familiar with the area that he could take advantage of it just as he pleased. Soon enough the streetlights ended, and didn’t light up the sidewalk they walked on anymore as the asphalt turned into regular dirt.

It hadn’t taken them many minutes, approximately ten or fifteen, but the sirens couldn’t be heard anymore, and the place they walked into was relatively abandoned. Old buildings, all quite tiny and bleak. Some of the abandoned buildings had caved ceilings and holly walls that had weeds and trees growing out of them, making it easy to figure the area was left on its own…

The deeper they walked, the more packed with trees and all sorts of unevenly growing weeds they encountered. Tetsuro partly thought that Akiteru’s tactic would be to just simply hide in the forest- and in that case, it would be very impractical considering they would need to somehow restrain Kei while also figuring out their shit in private, where no one could accidentally stumble upon them.

Glancing over at Akiteru, he coughed lightly to get his attention. The other merely glanced over at him with an arched eyebrow, and then looked forwards again.

 _Oh that expression runs in the family then?_ Tetsuro chuckled and looked forwards too.

“What’s the matter?” Akiteru asked, gritting his teeth.

_That’s all it takes to annoy you too, huh?_

“You’re not going to lead us into the forest like some kind of savage caveman, are you?” shifting and holding onto Kei just a little more possessively, he expected Akiteru to snap back at him. Kei only whined weakly at the added pressure around his waist.

“No” Akiteru answered lamely. He only looked forwards and stopped to stomp down some tall grass, looking quite uninterested.

Tetsuro blinked, wrapping his mind around the reply.

“Fine… just be like that then, you mysterious, old cranky man”

Huffing and sulking really wasn’t the mature way to respond to the older, but then again Akiteru was way older than him anyway, so it probably didn’t matter if he acted childishly around him.

“Tch… If you used your eyes you’d see that we’re already here…” using his foot to stomp down the last piece of grass to the side, Akiteru bent down and opened a dirty and rusty hatch. He also let go of Kei while bending, not warning Tetsuro.  

“Geh-!“ stumbling lightly to the side, Tetsuro could barely catch himself from falling. He gripped around Kei with both arms, and snarled.

“Save that for later. Just come down here and bring Kei” Akiteru disappeared down the hatch, slowly climbing the rusty steel ladder. The way down didn’t even look like it could fit two people at the same time, how the hell was he supposed to bring Kei down with him?!

Peeking down into the darkness, Tetsuro gulped. It wasn’t that he was scared of the darkness and cramp places or heights or anything… but it really didn’t look inviting down there… far, far down there… Akiteru’s gleaming red eyes were the only thing he could see there after all.

“Don’t worry; the ladder can probably take a ton.” Akiteru’s voice echoed up.

“Tch… I know that.” 

Wondering how he should progress, he ended up guiding Kei behind himself and pulling his arms forwards. That way the younger could hold around his neck while they descended, and Tetsuro would only need to use one hand to keep him in place. It felt like pulling on a ton of bricks though, he figured. As limp and non-helpful as a barely conscious teenager was, he really wasn’t helpful…

Kei’s nearly bare feet dragged against the ground as Tetsuro took the first step, and then bent down slightly. Tightening his grip on the blond’s thin wrists, he then swiftly jumped down and gripped onto the ladder. They actually did fit, surprisingly enough. He scoffed at his own hesitating- this wasn’t so scary.

Taking a step down the ladder and closing the hatch over him, he hummed. It was kind of… well, Kei was actually hugging around him, in a way? Not that he _liked_ it or anything, but yeah. He could feel his heartbeat, body heat and everything. He took another step, grinning like an idiot because no one could see it anyway.

Once he stopped grinning and realized that Akiteru was still down there, he exhaled. Right… reality calling. Shaking his head and taking another step, he jolted when his shoe slipped just slightly against the metal. Letting go of a low yelp, he quickly tugged himself closer to the ladder. He felt his heart pumping faster, and he was sure that if he slipped and lost the footing completely- the weight of both of them would be difficult to hold even for him. Slippery metal and sweaty hands really weren’t a good combo.

Shifting so Kei was closer to him, he continued his descending. 

“Took you long enough” Akiteru scoffed once Tetsuro took the final step and jumped of the ladder, landing with a slight thud.

“You scared of heights or something?” Akiteru sniggered.

“N-no” Stuttering while saying that probably wasn’t very convincing…

He blinked and his eyes turned red. He could see more with his improved sight, and took a look at the surroundings. He cringed mentally. There was nothing but one long dark, slightly wet hallway. The humidity down there probably came from the water that was dripping through the cracks on the concrete walls and ceiling. The steady dripping sound was very unsettling. He shuddered.

Akiteru started walking forwards, and looked back at Tetsuro once he realized that the other was hesitating.

“Come on now, it didn’t use to be that creepy here. I guarantee you that a ghost won’t pop up from the darkness.”

“Right… I was just getting more comfortable with your little brother. He’s drooling.” He lied.  Kei wasn’t drooling at all, in fact, he was breathing steadily and resting against his shoulder so cutely if felt like having a kitten clinging onto him. A very large, not cute, bratty kitten…

Letting Akiteru lead the way once again, he was happy to finally see a door. The sensation of always having to look behind his back was starting to eat on his confidence. He really wanted to get out of that hallway. He even hurried up a little once he saw it, and took the lead in front of Akiteru.

Once next to it, he grabbed the handle and ripped the poor wooden door off of it’s hinges.

“What the fuck was that for!?” Akiteru yelled. The door fell to the side and Tetsuro blinked.

“Oh… I thought it was locked…” He was actually being honest. After having been used to so many doors being locked when he broke into old storage buildings to spend the night, it had become a habit of his to yank at doors a little harder than normal. This door had to be a little old though, or maybe the hinges were rusty too, just like everything else in that hallway…

He stepped into what seemed like an empty, but very spacious concrete building. The ceiling was high, and there was some structural steel beams holding it up. The room was bright enough for him to see the rust on those too. The windows high up besides the beams were also broken, it seemed. At least bits and pieces were cracked.

He shifted around, looking at the place while Akiteru tried to get the door back in place. It didn’t sound like he got the result he wanted, but Tetsuro was too busy looking around to care. There were some old wood boxes and pillars too, all leant up against the walls in giant stacks. This had definitely been a storage room way back ago…

He felt Kei move against his back, and looked at his face.

“Hnn… Aki?…”  Kei drawled. He lifted his head slightly up from Tetsuro’s shoulder, blinking drowsily. His eyes seemed to mix the regular color of his irises and pupils with the ghoul colors, something Tetsuro hadn’t seen before.

Tetsuro blinked rapidly, eyes wide as he tried to hide the shiver going down his spine, which he failed to do, making him look like a trembling dog. That voice and expression was _slaying_ his brain cells one by one. There had to be a law against looking like that…

“Ah, you awake?” Akiteru sounded cheerful, and skipped over to them.

“Hnm…”  whining lowly and shutting his eyes, Kei pressed his face down on Tetsuro’s shoulder. He rubbed his head against it, and withdrew his hands from Tetsuro’s gentle grip. He then clutched at the hand, simply to keep himself up and because somewhere in his mind, he thought he was snuggling a pillow.

Frozen by Kei’s behavior, Tetsuro couldn’t muster even a single sound. Kei was…

A blush spread rapidly on his cheeks, and he finally inhaled after holding his breath for a couple of seconds.

_Beautiful…_

“Oh- uh… let me help you-” Akiteru took Kei away from Tetsuro’s back, and placed him on a wooden box. Kei clung to his brother and didn’t let go as he withdrew, and thus Akiteru was pulled into a hug.

“Now, now” Akiteru patted his brother’s shoulder lovingly, while smiling brightly.

“I know you’re sleepy, just wait a little here, okay?”

Pushing Kei back and standing up to look around a bit, Akiteru then walked over to a few switches on a wall, and pressed the bottom one. The lights in the room blinked on, weaker than regular light one normally has in a room. Akiteru didn’t need his ghoul parts to help him anymore, and his eyes returned to their normal color.

Tetsuro also switched back to his normal state, and blinked tiredly.

“What now?” he crossed his arms over his chest, curious of what Akiteru had in mind.

Akiteru huffed, striding past him. “Just watch over him while I go prepare a room, will you? And try not to be disgusting, please”.

Tetsuro scoffed. “Me? Disgusting? You and your brothers complex is what’s disgusting… dotting him like that all the time.”

“Oh please… I’m not the one blushing from a single glance at him” Akiteru opened a door and looked back at him. “Watch him,” he commanded.

“Fine!” Tetsuro stuck his tongue out, blushing slightly. What was that guys problem!? Maybe he had blushed because he was warm! It didn’t have to mean he _fancied_ the younger blond! He sat down forcefully next to Kei, still crossing his arms in front of his chest. He was grumbling while trying to churn up some proper insults he could throw back at Akiteru.

While listening to Tetsuro, Kei leaned against his shoulder again, attracted by the deep sound. It reminded him of his purring pillow from when he was much, much younger. He was in a state of half-conscious and half-sleeping , and was all around very dizzy. Holding onto the soft pillow was very reassuring.

The soft pillow- aka Tetsuro Kuroo- glared down at him intensely, his face turning red. His heart skipped a beat, and then the beating raced up in speed.

“I CAN HEAR YOU BEING DISGUSTING!” Akiteru called from inside the other room. Simultaneously, a loud thud and a scrapping sound came from there too.  

“Wha-!?” Covering his chest with his free hand that was not being held in place by Kei’s grip, he blushed even more.

“I AM NOT!” he yelled back.

“Shut up” Kei whined weakly, gripping Tetsuro’s bicep more and scooting closer.

Tetsuro could hear Akiteru laughing darkly. That bastard could hear his heartbeat, couldn’t he?

_Tch… stop snuggling me you moron!_

“What are you even doing in there?” he tried to change the subject, looking at the open door suspiciously.

“Setting up the chains” Akiteru peeked out, holding a set of thick and strong chains.

_Chains…._

An image of Kei in chains popped up in his head, and he swore internally. Damn that would be hot!

Akiteru disappeared inside the room again. “don’t even think about it, perv” He muttered, just loud enough for Tetsuro to hear him.

“If you’re thinking that I’m thinking it then that makes you just as much as a pervert as I am” smirking at his own reply, Tetsuro put his arm around Kei, simply to stop him from accidentally falling forwards or something… yeah... That’s why. No other reason at all.

Kei moaned warmly, as if finally finding a good position to sleep in.

_Oh fuck it… If I ever get out of this town I’m going to abduct you and leave your brother alone to die._

Tetsuro looked up when Akiteru re-appeared again, closing the door behind him and wiping his hands.

“It’s ready now,” Akiteru said, walking over. He didn’t seem to get angry or anything at the way they were sitting, but due to previous experience, Tetsuro still took his hand slightly away from Kei.

“Time to get up” Akiteru sang, touching his brother’s shoulder lightly and shaking him gently.

Blinking rapidly and groaning, Kei glanced up at him. Tetsuro noticed that his eyes were still in that weird in-between state, always changing pattern. It had to be difficult seeing when his eyes were like that…

“Hmm… Akiteru?” Kei sniffed slightly and rubbed his eyes, blinking again afterwards.

“time for bed, Kei” Akiteru smiled. He pulled Kei up on his feet, and Tetsuro gave him a gentle nudge forwards so he wouldn’t sit back down.

Lifting his brother up bridal-style, Akiteru kept smiling. Tetsuro watched with jealousy, and disgust. Akiteru just _had_ to have a brothers-complex if he cared for his brother so dearly and… intimately, he just had to!

“who’s here?” Kei mumbled. He closed his eyes, giving up on seeing anything at all.

Arching an eyebrow, Akiteru looked down on him. “Me and that intruder, you know that…”

Tetsuro glared. He could just call him by his name… although Kei hadn’t heard his name yet, had he? That was a problem. He really wanted Kei to know the name of the guy he _should_ be clinging onto.

Sniffing and scrunching his nose up a little, Kei mumbled while Tetsuro and Akiteru looked at him sternly.

 “No… there’s someone else here.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> more chapters will come, and I would love to read your comments. sorry if there's a lot of mistakes in here, my first language is not english.


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